Installation and setup

Installation and setup

Overview

Explains what the feature is or what its benefits are to the user or customer.

Feature

This ThoughtSpot Administrator Guide will walk you through the basic steps required to set up and configure ThoughtSpot. It will also assist you in troubleshooting some common problems, finding additional resources, and contacting ThoughtSpot.

ThoughtSpot enables you to access and analyze your data through a search-based user interface. You can create your searches on the fly by typing into a search bar, like you do when using an internet search engine. ThoughtSpot makes it easy to see your data, get your questions answered, create interactive graphs, and customize pinboards. You do not need to understand how the data is stored or know SQL to do these things.

ThoughtSpot gives administrators the ability to modify data properties to meet business needs, for example by providing search synonyms for common terms, boosting the importance of a column in search results, or formatting how the data appears. Collaboration and security features make it easy for you to protect sensitive data and for users to share information safely with others.

Login credentials for administration
You will need administrative permissions to perform the actions discussed in this guide. You can access ThoughtSpot via SSH at the command prompt and from a Web browser.

Log in to the Linux shell using SSH
To perform basic administration such as checking network connectivity, starting and stopping services, and setting up email, log in remotely as the Linux administrator user "admin". To log in with SSH from a client machine, you can use the command shell or a utility like Putty.

Test network connectivity between nodes
This procedure tests the network connectivity between the ThoughtSpot nodes, and to the LAN. If you can perform these steps successfully, the network settings on ThoughtSpot are correct.

Set the relay host for SMTP (email)
To enable alert emails, you'll need to set up a relay host for SMTP traffic from ThoughtSpot. This routes the alert and notification emails coming from ThoughtSpot through an SMTP email server.

Set up a fiscal calendar year
Many companies start their fiscal calendar in a month other than January. If this is the case in your company, setting a fiscal calendar quarter makes the ThoughtSpot date searches reflect your fiscal year.

About SSL (secure socket layers)
You should use SSL (secure socket layers) for sending data to and from ThoughtSpot. SSL provides authentication and data security. This section applies to both SSL to enable secure HTTP and secure LDAP.

Configure SAMLThoughtSpot can use Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) to authenticate users. You can set up SAML through the shell on ThoughtSpot using a tscli based configurator.

Mount a NAS file system
Some operations, like backup/restore and data loading, require you to either read or write large files. You can mount a NAS (network attached storage) file system for these operations.

Add a custom support contact
You can designate a support contact (email and phone number) at your organization for first level technical support. That person can answer questions about data and searching, and submit any system and software-related questions to ThoughtSpot Support.

Set up monitoring
To configure monitoring of your cluster, set up the frequency of heartbeat and monitoring reports and an email address to receive them.

Connect to the ThoughtSpot Support file serverThoughtSpot Support uses a secure file server to provide new releases and to receive logs and troubleshooting files that you upload. The secure server connection is also required if you want to enable the optional statistics collection using the call home feature.

Set up remote support access
You can set up a reverse tunnel to allow ThoughtSpot Support to get access to your ThoughtSpot instance, to perform support-related activities. This setup is a much simpler, more secure, and scalable than the alternative option of using a virtual meeting room.

Network ports
For regular operations and for debugging, there are some ports you will need to keep open to network traffic from end users. Another, larger list of ports must be kept open for network traffic between the nodes in the cluster.

About load balancing
A load balancer is needed in front of a server group in order to direct traffic to individual servers in a way that maximizes efficiency. Here are some of the best practices and guidelines for a typical implementation with ThoughtSpot. Your experience may differ depending on your environment and preference.